The Sacrifice (1986)
Country: SV
Technical: col/bw 149m
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Valerie Mairesse
Synopsis:
The birthday celebrations of a retired actor living in privileged seclusion, and the frustrations within the party, are interrupted by news that the war to end all wars has started and it's only a matter of time...
Review:
In Tarkovsky's last film, which feels like a homage to Bergman with its choice of actor and location, an actor who has reproached himself for spending his life talking finally gets a chance to do something. Earlier in the film his postman, who also opines that 'a gift is always a sacrifice', has told him that it is up to him to save the world, and this too involves offering up a sacrifice. A religious film, then, and rather less agnostically so than Bergman's; instead, as often in his work, there is the feeling of a deep faith, a sacramental quality. There is also the preoccupation with the elements and symbolism to which we are accustomed. Far from a falling off, this last work, but a rich and ambiguous experience.
Country: SV
Technical: col/bw 149m
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Valerie Mairesse
Synopsis:
The birthday celebrations of a retired actor living in privileged seclusion, and the frustrations within the party, are interrupted by news that the war to end all wars has started and it's only a matter of time...
Review:
In Tarkovsky's last film, which feels like a homage to Bergman with its choice of actor and location, an actor who has reproached himself for spending his life talking finally gets a chance to do something. Earlier in the film his postman, who also opines that 'a gift is always a sacrifice', has told him that it is up to him to save the world, and this too involves offering up a sacrifice. A religious film, then, and rather less agnostically so than Bergman's; instead, as often in his work, there is the feeling of a deep faith, a sacramental quality. There is also the preoccupation with the elements and symbolism to which we are accustomed. Far from a falling off, this last work, but a rich and ambiguous experience.
Country: SV
Technical: col/bw 149m
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Cast: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Valerie Mairesse
Synopsis:
The birthday celebrations of a retired actor living in privileged seclusion, and the frustrations within the party, are interrupted by news that the war to end all wars has started and it's only a matter of time...
Review:
In Tarkovsky's last film, which feels like a homage to Bergman with its choice of actor and location, an actor who has reproached himself for spending his life talking finally gets a chance to do something. Earlier in the film his postman, who also opines that 'a gift is always a sacrifice', has told him that it is up to him to save the world, and this too involves offering up a sacrifice. A religious film, then, and rather less agnostically so than Bergman's; instead, as often in his work, there is the feeling of a deep faith, a sacramental quality. There is also the preoccupation with the elements and symbolism to which we are accustomed. Far from a falling off, this last work, but a rich and ambiguous experience.